Aerial refueling involves the transfer of fuel from one aircraft, such as from a tanker, to another aircraft, such as a receiver. For example, aerial refueling may be utilized in order to extend the range of aircraft traveling long distances over areas having no feasible landing or refueling points. Aerial refueling may be utilized by various types of aircraft including, for example, fixed wing aircraft and/or helicopters.
One system for facilitating aerial refueling is a probe and drogue aerial refueling system. In a probe and drogue aerial refueling system, a tanker may extend an elongate flexible hose having a drogue attached to its distal end, while a receiver aircraft having a refueling probe extending therefrom approaches the tanker. The refueling probe is configured to engage the drogue while in flight so as to initiate the transfer of fuel. Typically, the operator of the receiver aircraft from which the refueling probe extends is responsible for maneuvering the receiver aircraft such that the refueling probe enters and engages the drogue.
Unfortunately, the movement of the drogue can make the engagement of the refueling probe with the drogue a challenging task. Among other forces that act upon the drogue, the bow wave created by the receiver aircraft carrying the refueling probe may cause the drogue to be displaced. Additionally, wind gusts or the like may also cause the drogue to be displaced relative to the refueling probe. Such unexpected and unpredictable movement of the refueling drogue increases the complexity of the aerial refueling operation. As such, the time required for aerial refueling may increase, thereby potentially decreasing overall mission effectiveness. Further, the movement of the drogue could possibly cause damage to the hose and drogue assembly and/or to the receiver aircraft carrying the refueling probe.
In an effort to make contact with the drogue and avoid some of the movement of the drogue, pilots of the receiver aircraft carrying the refueling probe may sometimes intercept the drogue at relatively high velocities. While the interception of the drogue at a higher rate may overcome some of the complications introduced by the movement of the drogue, the interception of the drogue at a higher rate may create hose oscillation which may adversely affect the integrity of the hose and the delivery of fuel thereby.
In order to reduce the movement of a drogue, drogues have been designed with passive disturbance suppression, such as by means of the drogue canopy design. In this regard, drogues having somewhat different passive disturbance suppression systems may be designed for different air speed ranges. Further, the passive disturbance suppression of a drogue may be coupled with active tension control in order to further reduce the movement of the drogue. However, drogues having passive disturbance suppression may still move more in an unexpected and unpredictable manner than is desired. For example, drogues having passive disturbance suppression may not be able to reject bow waves that tend to push the drogue away from a refueling probe.
Therefore, it may be desirable to provide a method, apparatus and system that may overcome one or more of the issues described above, as well as other possible issues.